bruce wilcock

merry christmas to all ,from across the pond.

if you have set your heart on a sq edge ,the easiest and less damaging is to tidiy up the hanging end at the tail .At horse shoing competitions we used all sorts of anvils some like paving stone edges ,but always found a spot we could draw a clip on ,it has to be a poor anvil without a edge on it some where. Good advise was to make up a block ,use a sawn drop as wide as your anvil weld a peg on it ,and if it bounces make a thick lead washer to put under it copper if you have it .

to make a sickle forge stock to 3/4 +3/16 or 1/4 forge the tang , then cut your stock to 3/4 the lenght of the finished blade,then draw the last 1/4 to make the full lenghth keeping full thickness ,then bend on edge like turning a horse shoe into a 3/4 circle , then depending on whether you are making a left or right hand sickle ,for a right hand sickle lay your blank on the anvil with the tang on your right hand side ,then with a heavy cross pein forge the blade out towards you leaving the outer edge full thickness ,the 3/4 circle will open out as you forge and will turn into a sickle shape ,you will bumble about with the first few ,but you can get very smart at making them ,as quick a making horse shoes. Try with some mild steel first ,your biggest problem will be working steel so thin without burning it too hot ,or cracking it to cold. Go for it ,i loved making them

we used M40 -en8 as forged air cooled.

well , they would be pigs to get back on the track.Ihave seen some bent rail after a derailment ,nothing like that ,where is the film of them streghtening them out , now that will be worth watching.

i have broken old worn rail using a ,jim crow, rail bender whilst making fenders for a pier ,they snap when you dont want them to ,a lot difrent than cutting where you have to . I think they used 6 ins junior hacksaws ln a relay teams one team on the top side and another team on the bottom side .

in the uk the firms using a large number of fixed hearths ,chainmakers ,jobbing shops, toolsmiths ,farriers ,millwrights ,the wet side blast was universal in fires working hard all day. Did the big shops running large number of fixed fires in the usa ,use side or bottom blast ,or were the bottom blast hearths usualy portable in jobbing shops,

i used to re work wrought iron ,mostly old chain ,anchors ,and boat iron work, salvaged from the sea bed, it was heavily coroded and covered with concretion,we used to knock of the heavy corosion with hammers and then it went into the forge and we welded it up then forged it to size ,the heat you should be working wrought iron at ,rust will be no problem it will come of with the first welding heat whilst you work up your iron.I still have several ton of old anchors in the yard some well over a ton each i will never work them up now ,so if you want to come over i will fill your truck.

a while back i sent in a blueprint to make a smiths hammer ,it seems to have gone ,along with a blueprint to make a pr of pincers out of a rasp, there were lots of blueprints all very helpful and well presented that disapeared ,perhaps they can be reteived

usualy on large stock a tong end is forged ,using shingling tongs ,to enable lighter tongs to be used . working under hammers a pr of tongs should be a good fit and only clipped on when the job has been brought up to heat ,fire tongs should be always used in the fire ,on heavy work you should lay the tongs you are going to use under the hammer on the fire to take the chill of them. A pr of tongs slipping or clips coming loose give some warning and the hammer can be stopped to ajust them ,with a weld there isnt as mutch warning ,for the class of work you seem to be working with forging say a 1/2 ins sq tong end and spend a little time making a pr of hollow bit tongs to be a nice fit ,and use a pr of fire tongs that you can let get red back to the rivet.Blacksmiths used to use tongs all the time and became adept with them ,farriers get very good , using tongs takes the jarr out of the job, and makes a smart workman.

repairing old wrought iron we have found a lot of lead used to fill voids in collars and joints , i have tinned with soft solder using bakers fluid flux

30 ins is about right it lets the smith get in and give the lead without striker getting over the anvil ,we used 36 for hammers for welding and big jobs if there were more than 3 striking it gave you more room ,and got you away from the heat.

try pure iron .com the company supplyd 1/2 a ton to forge a anchor using fire welding ,they sent me billets but they have rolled bar on the rack.

the advantage water tueirons had for heavy work was the amount of fuel burnt made big clinkers ,and the cold tueiron froze the clinker where it touched the tue and the air blast kept a hole open ,so we could work for longer and the clinkers came out in one peice with little time lost wating for clinkers to set .

the anchor gang, all fulltime blacksmiths

the old sheffield smiths called it,the hard-edge,so did my father ,all other anvil tools were called swages or fullers .You were told to ,drop the hard -edge in ,or ,drop a 2ins fuller in. we olso called a swage block a boss anvil ,and i never heard the word sledge hammer used ,you were always told the weght and type ,7lb striker 7 lb pein . tongs size then type, 2 ins sq bitt or 2ins clip bitt and so on.

yes avoid fire welding at public shows remembr childrens eyes are at anvil level .

big links i cut them out of a mooring used in the oil industry there were originaly 10 links 500 kg per link ,they have been made into garden ornaments ,i am of to sea on by sons boat for a week or so,if i get time i will take a photo and post it.

yes the anchor is welded up in the fire it is easier ,the job is then blown up to welding heat and got on a anvil to finish of they wegh 5 cwt when finished so we dont want to lift them about unless we have to ,i think some would find there welding went better if they had a try using a heavier section say 1ins to start with holding heat longer allows more time to fiddle around and set your scaphs to line up ,and leave the 1/4 ins rod untill you get a little sharper around the anvil,

the fire the anchor is welded in is a deep fire and the job is well down in the fire ,to weld the anchor is rolled over and some of the fire is pulled of to lessen the heat ,and then filler bars are brought to welding heat in another fire and welded in and cut of when you start welding bars on you are adding heat and several can be welded in at one heat

not often we used a flux the chain makers used silver sand ocasionaly thrown on the fire for the first few heats ,

find out how the steam tractor and loco groups are hoping to continue without coal ,and team up with them they must have similar concerns.

for me blacksmithing was my job and i have had a great time ,i did other things by way of hobbies ,now i have retired i potter around the smithy and it has become a hobby ,in short i make just what i want to when i want to.

perhaps it is one of the anvils made to commemorate the moon landing ,made out of moon rock, the shipping pushed the price up

hearths were set a little higher than the anvil ,so as you drew the job out of the fire it slipped on to the anvil gravity assisted, to shoe make all day with a hearth lower than the anvil is no joke lifting 16-18 ins 1 1/4 x1/2 carthorse iron adds up .chain makers hearths had a sloping sill facing down to the anvil and the men working were a masterclass in time and motion morn till night week after week for years the work knocked them to bits so they found the easyest set up dads hearth was 3 ins or so higher than the anvil and mine was around the same.